Utility Imposter Scammers Ready as Temperatures Drop

South Car­oli­na util­i­ties have joined with the South Car­oli­na Depart­ment of Con­sumer Affairs (SCDCA) and the Office of Reg­u­la­to­ry Staff (ORS) for Util­i­ty Scam Aware­ness Week (Novem­ber 15–19, 2021) to warn con­sumers about util­i­ty imposter scams as con­sumers turn on their heat for the win­ter.

Telephone Scam AlertUtil­i­ty imposter scams can hap­pen in-per­son or over the phone and come in a lot of shapes and sizes. Con­sumers have report­ed see­ing scam­mers dressed like a rep­re­sen­ta­tive of a util­i­ty com­pa­ny, going door-to-door and demand­ing pay­ment in pre­paid cards or else pow­er would be shut off. The scam­mer may call and claim the con­sumer needs a new meter or they are late on their pay­ments. What­ev­er form the scam takes, the red flags are the same.

The top red flags of a util­i­ty imposter scam are:

  • Ask­ing for pay­ment in pre­paid deb­it, gift card, mon­ey trans­fer, pay­ment app, or cryp­tocur­ren­cy. No real util­i­ty com­pa­ny will ever ask a con­sumer to pay with any­thing oth­er than direct forms of pay­ment like a bank account or cred­it card. If some­one claim­ing to be a util­i­ty says you must pay in an uncom­mon form of pay­ment, it’s a scam. Every time. No mat­ter what they say.
  • Use scare tac­tics or threat­en you into pay­ing ASAP. Often a scam­mer will warn the con­sumer they are late with a pay­ment and if they don’t pay imme­di­ate­ly, their ser­vices will be shut off. Util­i­ties are required to pro­vide con­sumers with at least 10 days’ writ­ten notice before their ser­vice is shut off and a sec­ond notice a few days pri­or.
  • Cold-call and ask for you to ver­i­fy per­son­al infor­ma­tion. A cold call is when you receive an unso­licit­ed vis­it or tele­phone call made by some­one try­ing to obtain pay­ment or infor­ma­tion for a ser­vice. If you receive a cold call from any­one ask­ing to ver­i­fy pri­vate info like your account numbers/balances, Social Secu­ri­ty num­ber, date of birth, etc, hang up and direct­ly call your util­i­ty com­pa­ny.

Con­sumers should also be wary of their caller IDs as scam­mers will “spoof” the num­ber they are call­ing from, which caus­es the cus­tomer’s phone to dis­play a false caller ID. Often, the scam­mer will “spoof” a local num­ber, per­haps even using the util­i­ty’s stan­dard cus­tomer ser­vice num­ber.

If you have any doubt about the legit­i­ma­cy of a caller, hang up imme­di­ate­ly and call your util­i­ty’s cus­tomer ser­vice cen­ter.

  • York Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive: (803) 684‑4248 
  • Oth­er South Car­oli­na Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tives: Vis­it www.ecsc.org to find your co-op’s phone num­ber.
  • Domin­ion Ener­gy South Car­oli­na: (800) 251‑7234
  • Duke Ener­gy Car­oli­nas: (800) 777‑9898
  • Duke Ener­gy Progress: (800) 452‑2777
  • San­tee Coop­er: (800) 804‑7424

If you sus­pect or expe­ri­ence a scam, noti­fy your local law enforce­ment agency. To report a scam or for more infor­ma­tion on defend­ing against scams call our Iden­ti­ty Theft Unit at 1 (844) TELL DCA (835‑5322) or vis­it consumer.sc.gov and click the Iden­ti­ty Theft Unit tab.

About SCDCA

The South Car­oli­na Depart­ment of Con­sumer Affairs aims to pro­tect con­sumers from inequities in the mar­ket­place through advo­ca­cy, com­plaint medi­a­tion, enforce­ment, and edu­ca­tion. To file a com­plaint or get infor­ma­tion on con­sumer issues, vis­it www.consumer.sc.gov or call toll-free in SC: 1 (800) 922‑1594.